Tag: Kevan Jones

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by what proportion the number of senior military officers ranked one star and above, and the civil service equivalent, employed by his Department, changed between 2011 and 2015.

Mark Lancaster

At 1 April 2011, 38.8 per cent of Senior Personnel in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) were Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and 61.2 per cent were UK Regulars at One Star (Army Brigadier and equivalent) and above. At 1 April 2015, 39.2 per cent were SCS and 60.8 per cent were UK Regulars at One Star and above.

At 1 April 2011, there were 480 UK Regular personnel ranked One Star and above; by 1 April 2015 this figure had decreased by 6.9 per cent to 450.

At 1 April 2011, there were 300 SCS personnel in the MOD; by 1 April 2015 this figure had decreased by 5.3 per cent to 290.

The following tables provide the requested breakdown, by year, of UK Regular Strength at One Star and above, and SCS headcount:

UK Regular Strength at One Star and above

1 April 2010	1 April 2011	1 April 2012	1 April 2013	1 April 2014	1 April 2015	1 Oct 2015
500	480	470	440	440	450	440

SCS Headcount

1 April 2010	1 April 2011	1 April 2012	1 April 2013	1 April 2014	1 April 2015	1 January 2016
320	300	270	280	280	290	310

The strength of UK Regular Personnel at 1 April 2011 was 186,360. The strength of UK Regular Personnel at 1 April 2015 was 153,720. This represents a 17.5 per cent decrease between 2011 and 2015.

The MOD civilian staff (CS) headcount at 1 April 2011 was around 87,000. The CS headcount at 1 April 2015 was 59,900. This represents an estimated decrease of 31.2 per cent between 2011 and 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the current value of contracts is between his Department and Boeing and Boeing UK; and what proportion of work under those contracts is carried out in the UK.

Mr Philip Dunne

The current value of contracts between the Ministry of Defence and Boeing and Boeing Defence UK Ltd is approximately £665.75 million and £2.49 billion respectively. Contracts are also held with the Boeing subsidiaries Aviation Training International Ltd and Jeppesen UK Ltd amounting to £415.91 million and £6.59 million respectively.

The proportion of work by value carried out in the UK is around 53 per cent. This figure is based on direct contracts where the location of work code indicates that work is undertaken in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Royal Navy about further extending the out-of-service dates for the Type 23 frigate.

Harriett Baldwin

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor (Philip Dunne) on 27 June 2016 to Question 39922 to the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Mrs Flick Drummond).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Royal Navy is taking to maintain its warship repair capability after the sale of RFA Diligence.

Harriett Baldwin

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 September 2016 to Question 45203 to the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Flick Drummond).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what expenditure his Department plans to make on mental health services for armed forces veterans in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.

Alistair Burt

NHS England has £1.8 million per annum baseline (recurrent to 2019/20) funding for veterans mental health services. This funding is used to provide 10 veterans mental health teams across England to meet locally identified needs of veterans and manage the network of providers of NHS commissioned veterans mental health services.

The funding also provides access for veterans to on-line mental health counselling services provided by the Big White Wall.

In addition, NHS England provides £3.2 million a year to commission the Armed Forces service charity Combat Stress to provide specialised inpatient services for the treatment of complex post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In 2014/15 further funding of £1.68 million was used to fund three pilots to develop and test enhanced models of care for veterans.

The pilots will:

– develop a joint substance misuse and mental health service model for veterans;

– develop an outpatient service for veterans with moderate to severe PTSD; and

– develop a modal of care to address the barriers that some veterans experience in accessing mental health services.

Veterans are also able to access the full range of NHS mental health services in the same way as the wider public.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects the target strength of army reservists to be met.

Mr Julian Brazier

We expect to reach our target strength of 30,000 Army Reserves by April 2019.

The Army Reserve is growing and during the 12 months to 1 December 2015, we enlisted 6,600 new members, a rise of 50% on the equivalent period last year. The Army Reserve’s trained strength has exceeded the target for this financial year by over 2,300 reservists.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Strangford (Mr Shannon) to Question 11812 which explained the improvements we have made to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer Reservists across all three Services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel are expected to be deployed in support of the UN and African Union missions to Somalia.

Penny Mordaunt

The UK is preparing to deploy approximately 300 troops to the UN mission in South Sudan, focussed on providing vital engineering support. Up to 70 troops will also deploy to Somalia, as part of UN support for the African Union force building stability in the country and countering the threat posed by the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what vehicle the Royal Artillery’s 32 and 47 Regiments will operate instead of the Warthog once the Bv206 has been retired.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Warthog vehicle entered service in 2010 as an urgent operational requirement for use in Afghanistan. Since the end of operations in Afghanistan a range of armoured vehicles purchased specifically for operations in that theatre have been brought into the MOD’s core inventory; the Warthog vehicle was not one of these. The options for disposing of the Warthog are now being considered, including the possiblity of an export route, but no decisions have been taken at this time.

5 and 32 Regiments Royal Artillery will receive the Bulldog armoured vehicle as a replacement for Warthog. 47 Regiment Royal Artillery will continue to use the Coyote armoured vehicle.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the P-8 Poseidon will be capable of carrying UK Storm Shadow and other manufactured munitions.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Department intends to bring the P-8A into service without significant modification to ensure the delivery of operational capability as soon as is practicable. There are no current plans to integrate Stormshadow or other UK manufactured weapons onto the aircraft.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the role will be of (a) Leonardo helicopters and (b) that helicopter’s production facility in Yeovil in the long-term support work for the AH-64E Apache when it enters service between 2022 and 2024.

Harriett Baldwin

Leonardo Helicopters will continue to lead on providing support to our existing Apache Mk 1 helicopters until they are retired from service in 2023-24.We have yet to decide the support arrangements for our new AH-64E Apache helicopters beyond the initial period of support that will be provided through the US Government.

The Ministry of Defence has signed a Strategic Partnering Arrangement with Leonardo Helicopters that will ensure that we continue to work together to enhance national prosperity through export success, and that the right innovation and technologies are available in the UK to meet our future defence requirements.